Cholesterol pills and grapefruit don’t mix

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H E A L T H: Cholesterol pills and grapefruit

don’t mix    

 

 

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=story_8-11-2004_pg6_14  

          

 

Taking certain cholesterol-lowering drugs at the same time as

grapefruit juice can increase the risk of potentially life-threatening

muscle toxicity, British regulators warned on Tuesday.

 

The

Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said the risk was

greatest with Merck & Co Inc’s Zocor, or simvastatin, which

recently went on sale without prescription in Britain, and Pfizer Inc’s

Lipitor.

 

The problem occurs because grapefruit contains a

chemical that inactivates a liver enzyme involved in drug metabolism.

As a result, regular consumption of grapefruit juice can lead to

excessively high levels of medicine in the blood.

 

The risk of

serious muscle problems also increases when these cholesterol pills, or

statins, are taken along with some other drugs, including HIV protease

inhibitors, the agency said in an update to doctors.

 

The

grapefruit hazard is not significant for other statins, such as

Novartis AG’s Lescol, Bristol-Myers Squibb Co’s Pravachol and

AstraZeneca Plc’s Crestor. But muscle toxicity is still a recognised

adverse reaction with high doses of all statins, leading in rare cases

to rhabdomyolysis — a condition in which muscle fibres break down and

are released into the circulation, damaging the kidney.

 

Worries

about rhabdomyolysis have been a particular issue for Crestor, the most

potent of the anti-cholesterol drugs, with U.S. consumer group Public

Citizen calling for its withdrawal following a handful of cases.

 

To

date, Britain’s Committee on Safety of Medicines has received 10

reports of suspected rhabdomyolysis with Crestor, the agency said.

reuters